Chase Utley Discusses MLB Season Delayed Due to Coronavirus Concerns

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, MLB is among the many leagues uncertain when sports will resume.

Commissioner Rob Manfred initially postponed Opening Day for two weeks and shut down spring training camps due to the virus, but now it looks unlikely that baseball will start before May. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended that gatherings of more than 50 people be postponed or canceled for eight weeks. 

Retired second baseman Chase Utley, who currently serves as a special assistant to the Dodgers, weighed in on the changes to the season.

"It's kind of a weird situation everyone's in. No one really knows exactly what to do," he said. "I think the organizations are doing individual things on their own trying to figure out how to keep guys in shape, how to keep guys going in the right direction and keeping them safe as well."

Utley, a father to two young boys, added that he's using his free time to cook and homeschool his kids while schools are also shut down during the pandemic.

Before the start of spring training, baseball was rocked by the Astros' sign-stealing scandal. MLB released a report saying Houston electronically stole signs during the 2017 season–the same year the Dodgers lost to the club in the World Series.

Utley predicted that if a similar situation happens again it would be handled differently.

"I think now that the cat's out of the bag there's going to be a lot more attention focused on [those] issues," he said. "It was a tough pill to swallow. About the World Series in 2017, baseball was doing the best they can to put a stop to it. I would imagine, if there was ever wind of someone trying to do it again it would get nipped in the bud pretty quickly."